David Warren, a 43 year old delivery driver from Chester was working for a white goods company when he developed chronic back pain after his employers failed to provide him with the necessary lifting equipment. Mr Warren had previously watched a manual handling safety DVD at work which gave details of how to lift heavy goods. He had signed his consent to lift heavy items providing that he was given the right equipment, yet, there was often an inadequate amount of sack trucks available. As part of his job Mr Warren was expected to deliver large white goods such as fridges, freezers and washing machines. It was often difficult for Mr Warren to use the safe lifting procedures shown on the DVD as doorways and stairs were narrow and awkward to manoeuvre. The fact that there were often too few sack trucks only further escalated the problem.

Mr Warren and his co-workers would often complain to their employer about the lack of sack trucks and as a result they were provided with some more. However, the new ones were of a poor quality and the tyres would quickly deflate meaning that they were unusable.

After working at the company for some time Mr Warren began to develop pain in his back and was advised to stay off work for 3 weeks by his GP. When he returned back to work, he told the manager about his problems and was therefore assigned only light items. As the months passed, Mr Warren was given increasingly large items to deliver and was expected to do this alone.

Mr Warren went back to his GP on numerous occasions, but the pain in his back did not subside and he had little choice but to continue with his job. Mr Warren went to physiotherapy sessions for a while but was informed that there wasn’t much they could do for him. He also went for an MRI scan but it showed that there wasn’t anything mechanically wrong with his back. After a few months the pain became so excruciating for Mr Warren that he had to take over 3months off work in an attempt to get it better.

Mr Warren’s chronic back pain caused by listing heavy objects has consequently had quite serious long term health repercussions which were through no fault of his own. His employers had failed in their duty to maintain his safety in not providing enough sack trucks.

Thanks to the brilliant work carried out by Express Solicitors Mr Warren has been awarded £35,000 in compensation to help (in part) to cover his medical expenses and loss of earnings.

If you have been injured at work and it was not your fault please contact us today to discuss your claim free of charge with a specialist Employers Liability Solicitor